a reflective and futile guide to life as an expat in london. formerly milan. formerly formerly seoul.
but who really gives a shit anyway. are you still reading this? hello?

Sunday, July 13, 2008

DMZ

Barbed wire and barricaded roads abound, our first stop was a tunnel discovered by South Korea in the 1970's. The tunnel came fewer than 30 miles away from Seoul and is said to be large enough to allow 30,000 soldiers through in one hour, presumably with the intent to invade Seoul. Since then, at least four (and depending on the source, upwards of 14) tunnels have been discovered. Allegedly, NK claims these tunnels to be "defense bunkers" in the event South Korea were to invade NK. Anyway, we put on our hard hats and penetrated Tunnel Three nearly 150 feet deep, until we reached the barricade just south of the demarkation line.

Our second stop was the observation deck. The rules were strict; "no photos beyond the yellow line". I had the good fortune of having Matt (7 feet tall, almost) extend his limbs into the sky and capture as much as possible. The most interesting observable site was the Gaesong Industrial Complex- an "industrial town" completely uninhabited, but designed to appear progressive to tourists peering in.

Lastly, we stopped at Dorasan Station- the last train stop before entering North Korea. Although the rail was renovated in 2002 in attempt to make steps toward reuniting North and South Korean families separated by the war in 1950, Kim Jung Il still only permits cargo to enter the country.

The best part was getting two South Korean guards to laugh, a perhaps shameful feat on my part, but completely worth the priceless photos. The sequence is quite hilarious.